Grubbing machine



March 27, 1951 E. E. ROWE GRUBBING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 17, 1946 INVENTOR. 53552-5 flows 7%, flmm March 27, 1951 E. E. ROWE GRUBBING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 17, 1946 INVENTOR.

fiaserf Fan 5 22%;

March 27, 1951 E. E. ROWE GRUBBING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 1'7, 1946 INVENTOR.

BY flaw/*5 Fan E m A TOR/V570 Patented Mar. 27, 1951 GRUBBING MACHINE Elbert E. Rowe, Clearwater, Fla., assignor to W. H. Armston Company, Inc., Dunedin, Fla-., a corporation of Florida Application December 17, 1946, Serial No. 716,746

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a grubbing machine and has for a general object the provision of such a machine which is readily constructed and easily operated by dragging it across a sod surface whereby it will efficiently define in the sod a swath out along its two sides and across the bottom thereof at a desired depth so as to sever roots in the swath from adjacent soil, and which will then effectively kick down into the sod swath to tear therefrom and free in fled in the construction hereinafter set forth, underbrush root masses of various types, such and the scope of the invention will be indicated as roots of palmetto, devils shoestring, oak runin the claim. ners, etc., efliciently to toss them to the surface For a fuller understanding of the nature and of the soil while leaving the latter substantially objects of the invention, reference should be had in position and while permitting the kicking to the following detailed description taken in conmeans to crawl up over relatively heavy obstrucnection with the accompanying drawin s, in tions, such as stumps, rocks, logs, etc, so that which: 4 operation of the machine may be efliciently 0011- Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, with parts tinued without tendency to damage or break it broken y, of n em m n 0 t grubbing and parts thereof. machine of the present invention, showing'the A more specific object f the resent'i nsame conditioned for transportation from one tion is to provide such a machine wherein kicker location 0 the arms are so rotated at such speed as to keep the 2 i5 a p p e with parts en cutting edge of a sub-soil blade efficie'hfly clear aw y,of h clim in m h n h wn n Fi 1; of root masses while it is defining a substantially as 3 is a ii al levati n, with parts broken horizontal bottom out of a swath, the kicker arms y and Omitted, taken 0 e 3 Of .1, effectively tearing those roots substantially free and 1 from th sod an tossing th t th rear upon Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation, with parts broken the soil surface while efiiciently threshing them away and Omitted, t t t al y On l ne to shake substantially all soil free therefrom, 4 of the roots and debris thus being left on the top Glllbbihg h nes are in great demand for of the soil for ready removal as the soil is effiremoval unilerblush and e OOtS thereof ciently aerated and replaced substantially in its from soil to permit the s O e l ter. as farm original position and pasture land, etc. In recent years there has Another object of the present invention is to been a great increase n v y n the p r o pr vide s ch a, grubbing m hin hi h i 013- stock raisers to clear land in the State of Florida eration requires a minimum of power to force 50 that it may be pl d a pastu e land. The the sub-soil blade through the sod at a desired d or ground in t State presents a parti ular depth, kicker means to tear the roots from a nd v r ry pr m w r p to attempts sod th defined by i d b tt uts ad to clear it since the fertile soil thereof is-so bythe machine being operated by an indeheavily matted with roots of underbrush, such pendent power unit on the machine which peras devils shoestring, oak runners and, more parmits drive of the kicker means at a desired acticularly,' palmetto. Further, it has been found celerated speed while minimizing the drawbar that palmetto roots may be ground up into coarse horsepower necessary to move the machine over particles which may be efiiciently employed as sod. raw material in various types of manufacturing, A further object of the present invention is to such as the construction of wall board. These provide in such a machine certain mechanism two demands have posed the problem of rapid whereby complete control thereof as toadjustand economical clearing of such land whereby ment of the depth at which the sub-soil blade the roots may be eiificiently removed from the soil makes a bottom out for a swath may be had to a desired depth of, say, six or seven inches, from a remote point, such as a tractor pulling the soil thoroughly threshed therefrom, those the machine and which also permits adjustment roots distributed on the top surface of the soil to free the sub-soil blade and kickers from the there to die and for subsequent collection, and ground surface to permit easy transportation the rich soil permitted to settle substantially from one location to another.

A sill further object of the present invention is to provide a structural embodiment of the device which is readily constructed and allows efficient use and operation thereof.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which will be exempliback in position so as to serve, when cleared,

as excellent farming or pasture land. The present invention has been found efficiently to accomplish these desired ends while eliminating tedious and slow labor attendant upon other means of removing such roots for use of the rich soil and the destructive effects attendant upon the harvesting of the roots by means of bulldozers or scrapers which damage the fertility of the land.

The present invention will be understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals identify like parts throughout. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the machine includes vehicle frame iii comprising a pair of spacedapart side members H, H, of steel plate or the like, which may be shaped as shown in Fig. i to incorporate in the frame construction certain structural features and to accommodate other elements of the machine. The frame side plates, H, it may be tied together in spaced-apart relation at various points by tie bolts and rods and other cross structure. For example, tie rods l2 and I3 may tie the front ends of the side plates H, H together and the rear ends thereof may be tied together by a bar l4, shown more particularly in Fig. 3, and a cross platform 15, and by any other suitable cross structure which may be desired, fixed in position by any suitable means, such as by bolting and welding, etc. For example, tie rod i2 and tie bar is are welded to the side plates l i H, and tie rod I3 is bolted thereto.

The front end it of the vehicle frame it is provided with suitable front wheel supports, each of which in the embodiment shown in the drawings may comprise a pair of plates ll, ll fixed to the outside of side plate I I, and provided with a plurality of holes l8-! 3. A triangular bracket l9: comprises a cross strap 28 and oblique straps 25, 25, bolted to plates I? by bolts 22, 22 selective" ly positioned in holes lS-iii. The plurality of holes Ill-i8 in each plate l'i permits selective elevational mounting. The oblique straps 25, El meet at 23 rotatably to support a stub wheel axle 2a which carried a U-shaped strap 25 looped up over the front end of the side plate II. This structure is duplicated on both sides of the front end of the vehicle frame so that there are two stub wheel axles 24, 2 3, as shown in Fig. 2.

Each wheel axle 24 supports a front wheel 26 which has a laterally extending rim 2? on which medially is outwardly extending radially disposed coulter flange or blade 28. Accordingly, y

when the front end of the machine is lowered to ride over the surface of the sod the coulter blades 28, 28 will out down into the sod to define margins of a swath of sod therebetween and the front end of the machine will be supported by the wheel ill, 2? riding on the sod surface.

On each side plate I l of the vehicle frame near the rear end 29 thereof is fixed, such as by welding, a substantially vertically arranged tubular guide slidably receiving a substantially vertical post 3| having at its lower end a stub axle 2-2 on which is rotatably supported a rear wheel 33. Each cylinder guide 58 preferably cut away at 35 to permit greater elevational movement of the stub axle 32. The top ends of the two posts 3 3% are tied together by a crossbearn 35, preferably welded thereto.

The cross bar M preferably carries a bracket 35 on which rotatably mounted a double sheave or pulley 3'! and the cross beam 35 preferably carries a bracket 33 on which is rotatably mounted a sheave or pulley 3%. A cable it is lapped back and forth about the sheaves or pulleys and 3% with one end 4i tied or fixed to cross beam 35. Accordingly, when pull is imposed on cable '10, such as by-ineans of a winch on a prime mover or tractor adapted to pull the machine, the sheaves 3'5 and 39 are brought closer together so as to cause the posts 3i, 3] to slide downwardly through guides 30, as and'thereby raise the vehicle frame, such as to the position shown in Fig. l. slacking off of cable Q6 of course permits the vehicle frame to be lowered relative to the rear wheels 33, 33.

At the rear end 29 of the vehicle frame, in the vicinity of the rear wheels 33, 33, the side plates 5 l, i i have downwardly extending portions 42. The bottom edges thereof, as shown in Fig. 4, may be turned inwardly to provide flanges .43, 43 to support a laterally extending substantially horizontally arranged elongated sub-soil blade 44. The sub-soil blade id, as shown in Fig. 2, has a sharpened front cutting edge Q5 the side portions of which are obliquely arranged to meet at a substantially medially located point as. The sub soil blade 34 also has fixed to the bottom face thereof a plurality of longitudinally extending runners Lilll to serve both as wear plates and as means to aerate the soil as the sub-soil blade is drawn forward therethrough, while reducing frictional drag. It will be seen from Fig. 4 that the supporting flanges 33, st cooperate with the runners 3ll in these functions.

The frame side plates H, H carry a rotatable cross shaft 5-8 on which is fixed a sprocket i9 about which is lapped an endless chain 53, also lapped about a sprocket 5| fixed on a power unit shaft 52. The power unit shaft 52 constitutes the drive shaft of suitable power unit, such as a gasoline engine 53 supported on platform 15. A

ruin 5 t may also be carried by the frame to serve as a gasoline tank.

The cross shaft 58 pivotally supports adjacent the inner face of each frame side plate ll a bracket plate as. Each bracket plate 55 has a horizontal arm 55 which is pivotally mounted on shaft 38 and a downwardly extending arm 5? arranged substantially at right angles thereto. Together the bracket plates st, 55 constitute a carriage pivotally supported on cross shaft it for up and down swinging movement. The downwardly extending arms 5?, 5i of'the carriage rotatably support a laterally extending shaft 53 which carries on one end a sprocket 59 fixed thereto. An endless chain to is lapped about sprocket 53 and also about a sprocket 6i fixed on an end of cross shaft 48 which projects through one of the frame side plates i l. Thus power unit or engine 53 will drive through its shaft 52, sprockets El and ts, and endless chain the cross shaft 43. Cross shaft 4% in turn drives through sprockets ti and 59 and endless chain as the carriage shaft 58.

The carriage shaft 58 is provided with an agitator drum or roller 62 fixed thereto and, if desired, the roller 62 may be made integral with the shaft 58 with stub ends thereof extending to provide for rotatable support of the roller and for mounting of the sprocket 59. The roller 62 carries fixed thereto a plurality of kicker arms which extend generally radially from the cylindrical surface of the roller. The kicker arms 33-53 are preferably bent backwards slightly, as shown in Fig. 1, since they are to be rotated in the direction shown by the arrow so as to pull roots away from the cutting edge d5 of the sub-soil blade 54 to tear them free from the soil and toss them to the rear. With the arms so 5. shaped there will be less tendency for roots into which the kicker arms 5363 are hooked in rotation to retain them thereon and wind them up about the agitator roller 62. The roots, as they are in turn freed from the soil and pulled toward the rear, will readily slide off the bent kicker arms 63-53 to be tossed and dropped onto the surface of the soil. It will be seen from Figs. 2 and 4 that the kicker arms 6363 are fixed to the cylindrical surface of theroller 52 at various points distributed substantially over the entire lateral extent of the roller and, of course,it will be understood that instead of arranging them in laterally spaced-apart circular rows they may be staggered in the rows, or otherwise arranged.

ll, H, sliding bolts 66, 56 and helical springs.

67, 51. The brackets 55 may be strengthened by a cross strap 66. Each bolt 56 is slidably'received through a hole in carriagecross beam 64 and another hole in a laterally extending portion 59 of bracket Above the laterally extending bracket portion 69 a helical spring 51 is arranged about the upwardly projecting end of bolt 66 and a plate iii on the top end of the bolt bears down upon the top end of the spring. Thus the carriage 55, 55, with the structure supported thereon, is floatingly supported on springs 61, 51 while being weight-biased downwardly.

Since it is preferred to motivate the grubbing machine of the present invention by pulling it there is preferably provided at the front end a draw yoke H having a pair of side arms 12, 12 each of which is pivotally secured to a frame side plate 4 l by any suitable means, such as a threaded end of tie rod l3 and nut 13 thereon. Each yoke arm 12 preferably extends through the U- shaped strap between its outer leg and frame side plate I I and, in order to raise the front end l6 of the machine up so that its coulters 28, 28 will be free from the ground surface, suitable wedging blocks i4, 14 may be provided temporarily to hold the machine and its parts in their relative transportation positions, as shown in Fig. 1, with the rear end 29 raised above the rear wheels 33, 33. This transportation position will be appreciated when it is understood that the line 75 in Fig. l diagrammatically represents sod or ground surface. The draw yoke H has fixed thereto a tongue '55 which carries a drawbar 11 for connecting the machine to a tractor for pulling it forward.

In operation, the grubbing machine of the present invention, after being transported to a site in the condition shown in Fig. 1, will be conditioned for grubbing action by removing the wedges l4, l4 permitting the front wheels 25, 26 and the front end id of the vehicle frame to be lowered. The cable at will be slacked off from the winch on the tractor so that the rear end 29 of the machine will be lowered. Then, as the machine is pulled forward, the coulters 28, 28 will sink into the ground or sod until the laterally extending front wheel rims 21, 2! rest upon the sod surface. The sub-soil blade 44 will bite into the 44 forms alaterally extending bOttOmJEutfIOm,

coulter-defined vertical cut 'to coulter-defi-ned vertical cut thereby severing all roots which extend from the swath into adjacent sod; The engine 53 will rapidly rotate thekicker arms 53, 63 downwardly in front andtoward therearfon the side adjacent the sub-soil blade 44 to engage int'o root masses and hook against separate roots to pull them toward the rear and withdraw them from the soil so asto toss them-to therear upon the surface of the soil. Thesa kicker arms 63, 63 also thresh the soil'free from the roots which are then left on the surface. of the soil, later to be harvested, if desired, or permitted to w remain there until they die and then collected and burned. The soil is thus substantially freed of all roots without minimizing its fertility since it is permitted "to, drop back substantially in position in the swath as the machine passes onward. An advantage in using a separate power source, or engine 53, on the machine while the latter is being pulled forward by another power unit, such as a tractor, resides in the fact that this effects an economy in the operative horse power necessary to pull the machine, and further permits a desired rapid rotation of the kicker arms 53,'63( As a result the kicker arms 63, 63 will travel along the arc of a circle in any time interval a greater distance than the forward travel of the machine so that when they engage root masses they will withdraw them from the soil and toss them to the rear.

The floating mount of the rotary kicker arms 63, 63 is not only important from the standpoint of adapting it to the contours of the surface of the sod over which the machine is pulled, but further in order to permit the agitator to climb up over any heavy obstructions, such as large stumps, stones, logsand the like, without damage to the machine and then to allow it todrop back down after passage over such heavy obstructions into root-withdrawing position on top of the surface of the sod. 7

This grubbing machine has proven to be highly effective in Florida where large areas of sod are substantially completely covered or matted with underbrush, particularly palmetto. This grubbing machine has been found effectively to clear such land, freeing large areas daily of roots so that the land may be employed for farming or pasture land and so withdrawing the roots from the soil and disposing them on the surface thereof so as to permit their ready harvesting. The soils fertility is retained and the roots are threshed substantially free of soil to reduce to a minimum cleaning operations attendant upon preparation of the roots as raw material for use in manufacturing various products.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above and those made apparent from the preceding description are efiiciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter 7 contained in the above the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall thereloetwe'en.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and-desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i A grubbing machine comprising, in combination, a wheeled vehicle frame adapted to be transported forward at a predetermined speed, laterally spaced sod-cutting means on the machine to out margins of a swath of sod defined therebetween as the machine is moved forward, rear wheel means, adjustable means supporting the rear end of said frame on said rear wheel means to permit relative up and down movement, a laterally extending sub-soil blade mounted on said frame behind said sod-cutting means and having a sharp front edge of sufficient width to form a substantially horizontal cut at a desired depth across the swath, a floating carriage pivotally mountedon said frame Ior up and down swinging movement about "a horizontal axis, a kicker roller rotatably supported by said floating carriage with its axis substantially horizontal and extending laterally substantially the width of and to the rear of the cutting front edge of said blade, aplurality of kicker arms fixed to said roller at various points distributed over substantially the entire extent of the circumferential surface thereof and extending in general radial directions therefrom, and power means to rotate said kicker roller with its arms moved in a forward walking direction and the remote outer ends description or shown in I thereof moving back away from the cutting edge of said blade on the lower side adjacent the latter, said power means including means to rotate said kicker arms at a certain predetermined speed relative to predetermined speed of forward motion of said machine whereby the ends of said arms will be moved along the arc of a circle circumscribed by their rotation a distance appreciablygreater than the distance the machine will move forward in any interval of time so that said kicker arms as they are Walked forward will kick down into the sod swath after it is cut at the sides by said laterally spaced sod-cutting means and along the bottom by said blade and 'tear therefrom any engaged roots to toss 'them to the rear upon the surface of the soil of the swath, the floating mount of said kicker roller permitting said kicker arms to crawl up over relatively heavy obstructions in forward movement of the machine.

ELBERT E. RQWE.

REFERENCES GZTED The following references are of record in the file of thls patentt UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 336,475 'Crossley Feb. 16, 1886' 616,991 Tanner s Jan. 3, 399 620,421 Cox i Feb. 28, 1899 1,704,349 Spencer i Mar. 5, 1929 1,813,651 Young July 7, 1931 1,905,385 Jase Apr. 25, 1933 2,044,205 Bruner June 16, 1936 2,051,977 Winston et a1. 1 Aug. 25, 1936 2,154,970 Briggs 1 Apr, 18, 1939 2,379,280 Couch i- 1- June 26, 1945 

